Mafia II - Xbox 360http://www.gameinformer.com/games/mafia_ii/b/xbox360/atom.aspxCommunity Server2009-09-29T21:15:00ZJump Into This Thing Of Ours/games/mafia_ii/b/xbox360/archive/2010/08/20/mafia-ii-review-jump-into-this-thing-of-ours.aspx2010-08-20T12:50:00Z2010-08-20T12:50:00Z<p><a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/8764.BRNW_2D00_PKRAL_5F00_2010_2D00_07_2D00_22_5F005B00_012_5D00_.jpg"><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/8764.BRNW_2D00_PKRAL_5F00_2010_2D00_07_2D00_22_5F005B00_012_5D00_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>America&rsquo;s fascination with the Mafia is long documented. For decades, films like <i>The Godfather</i> and television series like <i>The Sopranos</i>
have basked in the world of the Italian organized crime syndicate. Its
current and former members tout it as a closed community that operates
on trust, respect, and glory. Never mind that in reality they backstab,
double-cross, and rat each other out at a higher frequency than any of
the <i>Real Housewives </i>reality shows. No video game franchise
adheres more closely to this fractured dream of a romanticized criminal
subculture than Mafia. </p>
<p>Set in the &lsquo;40s and &lsquo;50s, Mafia II is jam packed with familiar plot devices pulled from classic movies like <i>Goodfellas </i>and <i>A Bronx Tale</i>.
In the fictional city of Empire Bay, three Italian crime families hold
control over most of the criminal underground. While the old fashioned
Dons stick to the time-tested rackets of gambling, running numbers, and
boosting goods, more adventurous young upstarts start dabbling in
get-rich-quick schemes involving narcotics. This creates a friction that
could break the alliance and pit the families against one another. This
is the backdrop for Vito Scaletta&rsquo;s rise from street thug to wise guy.</p>
<p>Like
a made guy dressed to the nines in a tailored suit, fedora, and a pair
of Stacy Adams, Mafia II dresses the part. The new setting, Empire Bay,
is a stunning recreation of a &lsquo;40s and &lsquo;50s American metropolis. From
the war-time propaganda posters to the era-specific automobiles and
radio tunes, Mafia II transports you to a time where American pride was
at an all-time high, dames were called broads, and overt racism ran
rampant through the segregated communities. The impressive attention to
detail is most noticeable in the expertly crafted building interiors,
which look like destructible sets pulled straight out of <i>Mad Men</i>.</p>
<p>Unlike
Grand Theft Auto&rsquo;s Liberty City, Empire Bay isn&rsquo;t an open world
playground overflowing with side quests and distractions. The world
still feels like a living city, but Mafia II is a much more focused
experience. You can buy new clothes, get your plates changed at the auto
shop, and boost cars for cash, but that&rsquo;s about the extent of your
interaction with the city. The game is divided into story chapters,
which allows the developers at 2K Czech to alter the weather, time, and
city conditions in service of the missions. While explorative gamers may
miss the freewheeling structure of games like GTA and Red Dead
Redemption, those who never finish lengthy games will appreciate Mafia
II&rsquo;s direct storytelling.</p>
<p>The original Mafia stood out for its
engaging missions, and the sequel follows suit. You still drive through
the city for long stretches (this time without a clutch or constant
harassment from traffic cops), but once you reach your destination the
action unfolds in smartly scripted missions that feel different every
time. These quests feature your standard blend of third-person shooting
and driving sequences, with the occasional fistfight thrown in for good
measure. The controls don&rsquo;t depart drastically from genre conventions,
though the finicky cover mechanic gave me troubles in tight quarters.</p>
<p>For
Vito to become a made man, he must earn his stripes selling stolen
cigarettes on the streets, robbing jewelry stores, burying dead bodies,
and taking on dangerous infiltration and assassination missions. His
best friend Joe is along for the ride most of the time, and their
dialogue serves as a narrative lynchpin. Though Mafia II relies heavily
on mobster clich&eacute;s, the ending takes an interesting turn that gives the
game its own identity.</p>
<p>If you&rsquo;re a veteran of open world games,
you should note that Mafia II is extremely easy on the normal
difficulty. Turn it up a notch if you want more challenging gunfights.
No matter what difficulty you choose, don&rsquo;t expect at lot of
interference from the clueless cops. When you break the law, the men in
blue aren&rsquo;t overly concerned with apprehending you &ndash; some give lazy
chase, but shaking them is as easy as stepping on the gas in a fast car,
making a u-turn in a busy intersection, or stopping until the cops get
out of their cars and then flooring it. They&rsquo;re even more ineffective
when the guns come out. I &ldquo;hid&rdquo; behind a dumpster of a closed-off alley
in front of a pile of several dead officers and lost my wanted rating
despite several cops patrolling the area.</p>
<p>Mafia II suffers from
some other minor annoyances as well. The game relies heavily on
cutscenes, and sometimes doesn&rsquo;t know when to draw the line between
interacting with the world and triggering a cutscene. I shouldn&rsquo;t take
control of Vito as he wakes up only to jump immediately into another
cutscene when I pick up the ringing phone. The NPC intelligence during
missions is also troublesome. In one mission I had to tail a car to find
out where it was headed, but the driver got into an accident and the
mission failed.</p>
<p>In an era when video games are moving away from
relying on cinematics for storytelling, Mafia II draws on the rich
mobster film history to weave a gripping drama about family, friendship,
loyalty, betrayal, and pragmatism. If you&rsquo;re fond of quoting Don
Corleone and Tony Soprano, don&rsquo;t miss this game.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=463877" width="1" height="1">GIBertzhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBertz/default.aspxMafia II E3 Hands-On Impressions/games/mafia_ii/b/xbox360/archive/2010/06/18/mafia-ii-e3-hands-on-impressions.aspx2010-06-18T22:50:00Z2010-06-18T22:50:00Z<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/2kgames/mafiaii/Mafia2_E3_610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>With Mafia II&#39;s August 24 release date inching closer, 2K Games gave us the keys to the Studabaker so we could cruise through 1940s Empire Bay, the setting for protagonist Vito Scaletta&#39;s rise from errand boy to made man. </p>
<p>The demo starts with an impressively edited cinematic that cuts between a flashback where Vito and his friend Joe agree to help kill a man and a scene in Vito&#39;s living room where he&#39;s loading his gun clip with bullets one by one in front of the fireplace. Once the scene is set, we&#39;re free to roam around Vito&#39;s house. The well furnished place is in the middle of an idealistic American neighborhood complete with flags hanging from every porch -- a far cry from the rundown tenement apartment we&#39;ve seen him use as home base in other missions. This wack job must be deeper into the game, because Vito&#39;s living the good life. </p>
<p>The telephone rings and we walk over to pick it up. It&#39;s Vito&#39;s best friend and partner in crime Joe Barbaro, who relays the spot to meet for the hit. Before we head over to kill in the name of Don Clemente, I decide to take the car for a joy ride and check out the open world sandbox. Mafia II has three radio stations playing hits from the times; I stick with the channel playing Buddy Holly. The city is bustling with activity -- cops walk their beats, pedestrians go about their business, and visitable businesses are scattered throughout the area. I start by paying a guy in a park $1 to shine Vito&#39;s shoes, then visit a diner, body shop, clothing store, gun dealer, and gas station. The cars in Mafia II have a gas meter, and I don&#39;t want to be running on empty in the middle of a police chase. </p>
<p>Once I&#39;ve wrapped up our tour of the city, it&#39;s time to wreak some havoc on the general population. I open fire in a burger joint, and within seconds the police descend on the place. As I rack up my kill count, the police response grows accordingly until I see a wanted icon pop up in the HUD. This means the cops will be on the look for me even if I escape the burger joint alive and lose the cops on the scene. Once I empty my clip I steal a car and drive away. A license plate icon appears next to my wanted poster, indicating the blues will also be on the lookout for the car.</p>
<p>I arrive at the mission location without incident, and a cutscene begins with Joe, Vito, and their mafia contact holed up in an apartment across the street from a warehouse. Workers are bustling around the entry, and I&#39;m told to be on the look for a fat man. When a couple cars pull up we see him exit the back seat, but before I can open fire a warehouse worker spots us in the window and starts yelling to his boss that we have guns. Our target makes a run for the warehouse and I open fire on a mounted machine gun, taking down his bodyguards in the process. We make a mad dash down the stairs to tail the fat man and move through the warehouse shooting through his last defenses. When we finally corner the porker, our mafia contact takes over and aims the barrel of his gun at the cowering man. A shot goes off, but it&#39;s not his gun. The target sneakily pulled out a derringer and plugged our guy. As he slumps over to the side in agony, he gives Joe and Vito the go ahead to fill him full of lead.</p>
<p>After escaping through the burning warehouse while protecting Joe as he carries your fallen friend, the mission wraps up in frantic police chase that abruptly ends as Vito slams on the brakes in front of a police blockade. We&#39;ll have to wait until August 24 to see how Vito escapes this sticky situation.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=379874" width="1" height="1">GIBertzhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBertz/default.aspxHands-On With 2K's Impressive Open-World Gangster Game/games/mafia_ii/b/xbox360/archive/2010/03/10/hands-on-with-2k-s-impressive-open-world-gangster-game.aspx2010-03-10T06:00:00Z2010-03-10T06:00:00Z<div class="paginated-post" rel="2"><div class="paginated-post-page" rel="1"><p><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/3731.Mafia-II-_2D00_-WildOnes_5F00_05.jpg"><img src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/3731.Mafia-II-_2D00_-WildOnes_5F00_05.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Several open-world action games sprang up in the wake of Rockstar&#39;s innovative Grand Theft Auto III, but the original Mafia stood out from the pack with its unique sense of place and dedication to cinematic conventions. For the sequel, developer 2K Czech is taking its Hollywood approach to the next level, with quick cuts, stylish camera angles, and iconic mood music to enrich the experience. To get a further sense of how the project is coming together, I grabbed a controller and jumped into Mafia II&#39;s first hands-on demo. <br /><br />For those of you unfamiliar, Mafia II chronicles the life of Vito Scaletta, a World War II vet who returns from the war to find his mother and sister struggling to make ends meet. While Vito was diving in fox holes across Europe, his deadbeat dad racked up a sizable debt to a bookie and unexpectedly kicked the bucket before he had the chance to balance his checkbook. Not the sort to excuse a death in the family, the cutthroat loan shark demands that the family ponies up the cash. To bail out the fam, Vito and his buddy Joe Barbaro turn to petty crime. Their gift for grifting does not go unnoticed, and suddenly the duo is climbing the ranks of an Empire Bay crime family. <br /><br />The first hands-on demo of Mafia II drops us into a mission called &ldquo;Wild Ones,&rdquo; which takes place well into Vito&#39;s criminal career. The session begins with Vito standing in his skivvies, reading a note left by Joe on the kitchen table. Joe&#39;s apartment is your typical rundown urban tenement, with the only distinguishing feature being the collection titillating pin-up posters on the wall and a red bra on the unmade bed. Joe is nothing if not sure of his sexuality. The note explains they have another job that afternoon, and instructs Vito to meet Joe at a nearby parking lot. Before heading out the door, I open the wardrobe and select Vito&#39;s attire for the day &ndash; a leather jacket. Leaving the building, I make may way around the corner to the garage. <br /><br />From the fedora-donning wise guys loitering on the streets to the advertisements for booze, smokes, and baseball plastered on every wall, Mafia II delivers an unmistakable sense of place and time. Though Empire Bay is a fictitious amalgam of east coast cities, the buildings, gas stations, signage, and citizens are pulled straight out of 1950s Americana. Opening the garage further confirms the Fonzie-friendly setting, as each of the three rides I have to chose from would be right at home on <i>Happy Days</i>. I hop in a sleek convertible and hit the road with early-era rock and roll blasting from the speakers. <br /><br />Like other open world games, the route to my destination is outlined on a GPS map in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. The car feels a lot stiffer than your typical Grand Theft Auto vehicle, so when navigating tight turns or passing between two cars, I find it best to drive much slower than I normally would. As I pull up, a quick jump cut brings me straight into a cutscene. Joe is stationed next to a cargo truck full of cigarettes in a parking lot. He says Eddie (the duo&#39;s higher up) came across the cartons and wants them moved. After we make a few sales to mopes on the street for two bucks a carton, a caravan of hot rods pulls up next to the truck. A greaser dressed in the standard jeans-and-leather-jacket attire confidently steps up to Joe and tells him that this is their turf. If we want to operate in the area, we&#39;ll need to cough up some cash and cigarettes. Not one to be strong-armed out of his goods, Joe politely tells him to scram, but the slick-haired goon doesn&#39;t step down. He signals his henchmen circling the truck in a car, and out flies a Molotov cocktail that sets our cartons of smokes aflame. Joe is not pleased; without saying another word, he draws his gun and shoots the unsuspecting tough guy in the forehead, hardly blinking an eye. We jump in a car to chase the remaining greasers, but they&#39;re long gone by the time we hit the road.&nbsp;<br /><br />With the cigarettes burned to cinders and the cargo truck in shambles, we have to report the bad news to Eddie. Finding the nearest pay phone, we ring him up and prepare for the worst. After an expletive-laced rant chronicling the myriad ways we failed him, Eddie instructs us to meet up with his shakedown artists at a greaser hangout to set things straight. To do good by the boss man, we have to come up with the $2,000 reimbursement, and be discreet in getting revenge. </p></div></div><script type="text/javascript">PaginateGrid();</script><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=245699" width="1" height="1">GIBertzhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBertz/default.aspxBuild A Mafia Empire In 2K Games' Anticipated Sequel/games/mafia_ii/b/xbox360/archive/2009/09/29/preview.aspx2009-09-29T20:15:00Z2009-09-29T20:15:00Z<p><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/7028.mafia1.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/7028.mafia1.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>Critics showered accolades upon Mafia for its intricately detailed missions, but the sparse open world failed to captivate gamers in the same way as other sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. For the sequel, 2K Games and its Eastern Europe-based developer 2K Czech (formerly Illusion Softworks) are focused on crafting a more engaging world. The 1940s era metropolis Empire Bay eschews the barren city streets of its predecessor in favor of a more active populace, dynamic police patrols, and several side missions that branch from the overarching narrative of Vito&rsquo;s rise from petty criminal to made man. Like AMC&rsquo;s hit drama Mad Men, Mafia II transports you back to another era, with authentic cars, clothing, and music that change with the years as the story progresses into the 1950s.<br /><strong><span style="font-size:medium;"></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:medium;">Running From the Fuzz</span></strong></p>
<p>Any two-bit thug can pull a heist or commit a crime in broad daylight. The tricky part is evading the inevitable police pursuit. In Mafia II, 2K Czech tapped a unique resource when designing the police intelligence &mdash; common sense.<br /><br />Unlike other open world games that require you to evade police Pac-Man style or take down the squad cars on your tail, Mafia II employs a philosophy that adheres much closer to reality. If the cops don&rsquo;t see you commit the crime and there are no witnesses, the men in blue are less likely to begin a citywide manhunt. If they do begin pursuit after a bigger crime, it&rsquo;s much easier to lose them by skillfully evading the cars and diving into a darkened alley before they have the chance to turn the corner on you.<br /><br />&ldquo;Mafia II is set in the 1940s and &lsquo;50s, so we want the police to be period-authentic,&rdquo; says 2K Games producer Alex Cox. &ldquo;Police back then didn&rsquo;t have the same tools as modern cops. So, if you dive unseen down a back alley you&rsquo;ll quickly lose the heat&hellip;unless the cops noted your license plate, of course.&rdquo;<br /><br />Just because you&rsquo;ve evaded the cherries in your rearview mirror doesn&rsquo;t mean everything is back to normal. Police will dispatch a warning to all nearby cars detailing your make, model, and car color. The only way to lose the heat on that car is to ditch it for another or get one of your associates to change the plates or repaint your vehicle. Cops also take note of Vito&rsquo;s outfit if he commits a crime on the streets, which necessitates a change of clothes so you don&rsquo;t match the description being sent across the wire.<br /><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/6661.mafia2.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/6661.mafia2.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:medium;"></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:medium;">Put Up Your Dukes</span></strong></p>
<p>While Vito gets in his share of gunfights, he&rsquo;s also not averse to throwing the occasional punch.<br /><br />&ldquo;The melee combat is very much inspired by street fighting,&rdquo; says 2K Games producer Alex Cox. &ldquo;The guys we are dealing with are street thugs, not kung-fu masters.&rdquo;<br /><br />Rather than develop a complicated combat system with myriad combinations, 2K chose to focus on the visceral experience. The control layout sticks to the basic two attack buttons and a dodge button, but 2K created a pool of over 200 individual animations to choose from during battles to keep the combat interesting. Players can string together combinations with the two buttons, or enlist the help of the environment. Characters throw each other into tables, lean on objects while falling, and grab dynamic objects to use as weapons for ultraviolent finishing moves.<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty awesome to drag an enemy out of his car then beat him unconscious against the front grill,&rdquo; says Cox. &ldquo;Actions like this have a great mobster feel to them.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/0358.mafia3.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.18.23/0358.mafia3.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:medium;">Expanding the Narrative</span></strong><br /><br />Vito&rsquo;s journey from small-time thug to Mafioso features twists and turns on par with classic mobster flicks, but developer 2K Czech knows a strong narrative isn&rsquo;t enough to carry an open world game. In between missions, Vito will come across optional side quests. Secondary missions branch from the main storyline to reveal more information about key characters and lead you to less-frequented corners of the city. &ldquo;The best way of thinking about how the subquests work is like an extended cut of a movie &ndash; bonus enjoyment for people that want to delve deeper, but it won&rsquo;t spoil the main game if you choose not to do them,&rdquo; says 2K Games producer Alex Cox.<br /><br />To give an example, 2K shares a scene that starts with a lady of ill repute putting her clothes on in Vito&rsquo;s apartment after an assumed romp in the sack. Vito and the girl both leave the apartment, but as she drives off he witnesses her car get rear-ended. The situation quickly escalates, and the angry driver starts getting rough with her. It&rsquo;s up to you to step in and save the lady of the night or neglect the situation altogether.</p>
<p>Vito can also do favors for mobsters, which reward him with extra money to spend on new cars, clothes, and weapons.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=3294" width="1" height="1">GIBertzhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBertz/default.aspx